DARK
4Bone Archfiend
Archetype:
Archfiend
ATK:
1800
DEF:
0
View:
4699
If this card is in your hand or GY: You can send 1 other card from your hand or field to the GY; Special Summon this card, also you cannot Special Summon monsters from the Extra Deck for the rest of this turn, except DARK Dragon Synchro Monsters. You can target 1 face-up monster you control that has a Level; send 1 Fiend Tuner from your hand or Deck to the GY, and if you do, increase or decrease that monster's Level by 1. You can only use each effect of "Bone Archfiend" once per turn.
Bone Archfiend — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 66 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 64.3 · Deck: 67.8 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Starter / Combo enabler · Secondary: Extender
Why it scores here
Bone Archfiend scores on its ability to put a live Level 4 DARK Fiend body onto the field from hand or GY for the cost of one other card, then feed the Resonator boss line. Its 1800 ATK earns nothing by itself; the score comes from accessibility, a Level 4 DARK material body, and the deck-wide role it plays (98% partner co-occurrence with Vision Resonator and Soul Resonator). The once-per-turn-per-effect limits and the Extra Deck Special Summon lock cap the ceiling, and the combo role counts are all zero, so the starter role rests on card text plus the combo power index rather than on tagged starter counts.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 78 | Summonable from hand or GY for one discard-style cost, and present in 400 of 400 sampled decks (observed, verified from text). |
| Combo & Conversion | 70 | Appears in 5 of 5 recorded combos at average power index 100, but none tag it as starter or payoff, so the conversion is observed only through co-occurrence (observed). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | Sending one card to summon itself is roughly card-neutral, and GY-to-hand summon gives partial recursion value (inferred from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 10 | No opponent-facing negation, removal, or disruption; the level-change effect is a combo tool, not interaction (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 65 | Level 4 DARK Fiend with 1800 ATK is a clean material body, and the effect still converts as a body when negated (inferred from text and stats). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Summonable from hand or GY across turns, but a single monster effect can still shut it down once it is on the field (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 78 | Used at 3 copies in 231 of 400 decks with a 2.36 average, no garnet or lock beyond the Extra Deck summon limit, and high partner redundancy (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Starter + 0.3 Extender. Intrinsic ≈ 64.3, Deck ≈ 67.8, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Self-locking restriction (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Summonable from hand or GY for a single card cost
- Live in most sampled decks (400/400) with high partner redundancy
- Clean Level 4 DARK Fiend body that still works as material when negated
- Level-change effect gives flexibility for Synchro and Tuner lines
Weaknesses
- No interaction or disruption of its own
- Once-per-turn limits on each effect
- Extra Deck Special Summon lock for the rest of the turn
- Fiend Tuner requirement for the level-change effect
Counters / choke points
- Hand traps that respond to the hand or GY activation
- Monster effect negation once the card is on the field
- Board breakers that clear the Resonator bosses it feeds
Best use
Hand/GY starter that enables the Resonator boss line; Level 4 DARK material body. Decks: Resonator, Archfiend, Bystial/Byssted. Suggested copies: 3.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: hand/GY self-summon for one other card, Extra Deck summon lock, once-per-turn per effect; 400 of 400 sampled decks run it, average 2.36 copies; Legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks
- Observed: Appears in 5 of 5 recorded combos at average power index 100; Strong co-occurrence with Vision Resonator (98.5%) and Soul Resonator (97.8%); Included at 53–100% inclusion across 6 StatisticsCard archetypes
- Inferred: Starter role comes from text and board context, not from tagged starter counts; Summon is roughly card-neutral and gives partial GY recursion; Still functions as a material body when negated
- Data gaps: No banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) Combo role tags (starter role, material role, payoff role) are all 0 despite 100% appearance, so role is inferred from text Only 5 recorded combos No dated metagame sample, so meta power is null